Panel Delays Naming Lehigh Commissioner

April 08, 1994|by ELLIOT GROSSMAN, The Morning Call

After some parliamentary maneuvering, a Lehigh County commissioners committee yesterday failed to recommend a replacement for ex-Commissioner Jeffrey Skinner, partly because of fears there would be too much lobbying for particular candidates if they did.

"If we take the vote now and it's a divided vote, that's when you get the calls," said Commissioner Daniel Dougherty.

Instead, the Legislative Review and Appointments Committee might make a recommendation Wednesday night, just before the full Board of Commissioners acts on the issue.

The committee interviewed four people last week to replace Skinner and anticipated making a recommendation yesterday.

But committee members Dougherty and Emrich Stellar voted not to make a recommendation. That action failed in a tie vote, but the next action -- to adjourn the committee meeting --passed and had the same effect.

Stellar said he hadn't formed his opinion on whom to support. He also said it could be a problem if the person who receives the appointment is different from the one whom the committee supports.

"I think that we would only damage the candidates by giving one of them a sense of security and three of them a sense of loss," he said.

Committee Chairman Percy Dougherty said he polled other commissioners and believed five commissioners, a majority, supported a particular candidate whom he did not identify. He favored recommending two candidates yesterday.

The applicants are Pamela Varkony, a marketing consultant; Vincent Velivis, a community organizer; Philip Schantz, a retired investigator for the state Liquor Control Board, and William McQuilken, a credit adjuster for First Valley Bank.

All are Republicans and live in Allentown. By law, Skinner's replacement has to be a Republican, like Skinner, and be from District 4, which includes most of Allentown's downtown and West End.